Drama

Interim Head of Department: Mrs Nicola Sidney

Overview

The Drama department aims to build and develop confidence and social skills in our students. As an examined subject students are asked to explore published texts and to create their own work from stimulus.

The challenges in meeting the needs of students with a visual impairment include:

The reading of emotions and facial expressions and how to show these when acting

Mobility within an acting space and audience awareness

The concept of a theatre space and how to stage theatre for a sighted audience with visually impaired actors

Lack of the incidental learning which is acquired through sight

Examples of Adaptations for Visually Impaired students

A number of adjustments are made to our teaching to meet the needs of our students with a visual impairment:

Students work within defined spaces in the Drama studio often using tactile markers to mark out acting areas

Basic skills such as freeze frames are used to teach stage positioning and body language

GCSE students learn the Stanislavski method of acting which deals with the internal emotions first; working from the inside to the outside

All students have the opportunity to be involved in a whole school annual production as actors or stage crew. Previous productions have included ‘Guys and Dolls’, ‘Arabian Nights’ and ‘As You Like It’. NCW takes part in the Shakespeare for Schools Festival where students perform on a professional stage alongside mainstream students

The College has excellent links with local theatres such as the RSC, Stratford and Birmingham Rep who provide us with audio description and touch tours to enhance the students’ understanding of performances that they watch

There are opportunities for students to take part in extra-curricular Drama activities in the local community, mixing with sighted peers

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